Hillary Clinton's book "Hard Choices" is being closely examined by pundits eager for a sense of where she stands politically after spending the last several years away from the partisan fray. During a HuffPost Live conversation about the book, Clinton biographer Jonathan Allen said that of all the book's content, Clinton's words on Iraq are the most "difficult to swallow."
In "Hard Choices," Clinton addresses her vote to authorize the Iraq war in this way:
I should have stated my regret sooner and in the plainest, most direct language possible. In our political culture, saying you made a mistake is often taken as weakness when in fact it can be a sign of strength and growth for people and nations. That's another lesson I've learned personally and experienced as Secretary of State.
That didn't sit well with Allen, the author of "HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton."
"The only possible reaction to that is: oh, please," he told HuffPost Live's Ricky Camilleri.
Allen believes Clinton's explanation reads like an attempt to appear virtuous for finally owning up to her mistake, but he said Clinton's logic doesn't actually hold up when it took her years to admit it.
"Of all the things she wrote in the book, that is probably the one that is most difficult to reconcile with the average person's willingness to stomach political spin," Allen said.
See the full HuffPost Live conversation about "Hard Choices" below.
Related
Before You Go
